Murder

by Sandra R Neeley

  He thought of Lucitari, and then of Phrygia. There was really no comparison. The feeling of peace he’d gotten from Lucitari, even when arguing with her was one hundred times that of the peace he’d felt when with Phrygia. He’d been a blind fool to not realize the fact that Lucitari was his. He brought his hands up to rub his face and ended up holding on to his own horns. He filled his lungs with air, then let out a cleansing roar. Or at least it was meant to be, but nothing was cleansed — not his frustration, not his guilt over Phrygia, and for leaving Aubreigne alone when she was hurting, and not his want and need for Lucitari.

  He walked into the kitchen and noticed the food that had been meant for Phrygia’s breakfast, still uncooked and raw on the countertop. Apparently, Phrygia had been about to make breakfast when she’d been taken. As he walked into the kitchen, he kicked the broom accidentally. Murder looked down at the broom, and leaned over to pick it up. It was cracked. The heavy broomstick was cracked in two places. This was proof that someone had taken Phrygia against her will. She’d clearly been interrupted while making breakfast and fought whoever had taken her, with the broomstick.

  Murder dropped the broom where he stood, left the food sitting out, and left his home. He took flight one more time, searching Whispers. There were two females missing. One of her own volition, the other by force — he had no doubt. He needed to save Phrygia. He was responsible for her being here, and for her being left alone. He would make sure that she was safe; then, he’d speak with Lore and hopefully Lore would be able to help him find Lucitari. If not, he’d call in every favor he’d ever been owed by the ancient to insist he do all he could to locate Lucitari. Then, he’d throw himself at her feet and swear upon all that was holy that he’d be a good mate to her, and that she’d never, ever regret accepting him.

  But first, he had a human female to locate and rescue — again.

  <<<<<<<>>>>>>>

  Murder spent the morning moving methodically through Whispers on foot, asking every single being he came across if they’d seen Phrygia, or anything unusual. But as of yet, no one could give him any direction at all — they’d not seen or heard anything unusual.

  He was approaching the natural inlet where the waters of the Gulf of Mexico lapped at the shore of the swamp and fed into the natural bayous branching off from it. He could hear a female’s laughter, he could smell food cooking. As he got closer, he slowed his approach and shifted into hunting mode. He was careful not to make a sound. He was careful not to be seen. And he was able to get very close to the gathering of three people, to get a good look for himself at what was happening.

  What Murder didn’t realize was that he was also being stalked, hunted. And the male stalking him was just as careful not to make a sound, not to be seen, and was content to follow along at a distance, until exactly what he was looking for was found for him. Then and only then, would he make his move.

  Unfortunately for Murder, he was leading the male right toward his desired target.

  Murder stalked closer to the small family group to get a better look. Something was off. Something about the female’s laughter was too familiar. He found a good vantage point and peered through the trees to get a better look at exactly who he was hearing. When he did, his eyes grew wide, his face became a mask of rage. He stalked out of the shrubbery that encircled the yard that went to and met the edge of the water, and the long pier that led to a raised home just above water level over the bayou.

  “How dare you steal my female from my home!” Murder bellowed, his steps heavy and his path directly aimed for the pier that led to Gaston, Phrygia and Anton.

  They were sitting on the small dock that was built off the pier at the back of the house. They were fishing and cooking the fish they’d already caught on the small spit Gaston had built a fire underneath just on the bank of the bayou his home was built over.

  Gaston got to his feet. “Steh here with Phrygia, Anton.”

  “But Daddy…” Anton said, already standing, preparing to go with Gaston.

  “Steh here, boy!” Gaston ordered.

  “Yes, sir,” Anton answered, taking a step to be closer to Phrygia as she reached out an arm for him to come to her.

  Gaston started his march down the pier toward Murder. “I didn’t take nobodeh from your home, Murder. Ya know me better ‘dan ‘dat!” Gaston shouted. “I brought food, ‘dat’s it. Nothin’ more. She got here on her own. I didn’t take her, no!”

  “And yet here she is! Phrygia, come to me, sweetheart, I’ll get you to some place safe. Somewhere that is your choice to be,” Murder ordered, keeping a wary eye on Gaston.

  The gator shifter had taken on a half-shift, his skin becoming hard, thick and leathery. His hands sprouting insanely long claws, his head and neck elongating and taking on a shape reminiscent of a huge alligator. His teeth were many and razor sharp.

  “She’s not going’,” was the garbled response that came from his reptilian throat.

  Murder slowed his advance. He knew he could likely overtake and win against Gaston. But the male was an alligator shifter. There was no doubt Murder would walk away, hopefully walk away, with his fair share of damage. Gator shifters were extremely dangerous, especially when their kin were threatened. And while Phrygia wasn’t his kin, Anton was, and the boy was here, too.

  “She doesn’t belong here, Gaston,” Murder said, changing tactics to try to reason with the male. “I have no desire to hurt you or your boy. I just want what’s mine. Give me back Phrygia and we’ll be on our way. I’ll forgive your intrusion into my home. Just let her go. She is not yours.”

  “Yes. She. Is,” Gaston shouted, the croaking sound alligators make surrounding his words as he tried to get his words to be understood.

  “I warned you,” Murder said, moving swiftly toward Gaston. “I gave you a way out. Remember that,” Murder snarled as he and Gaston threw themselves at one another, snarling, shouting, threatening.

  Then another scream rent the air, causing both males to pause in their attempt to behead each other. They looked over their shoulders toward the dock Gaston had left Phrygia and Anton on. Their blood ran cold. They stopped fighting each other, and ran toward the dock.

  Anton had shifted and had locked his jaws around the forearm of a very large male. The male was shaking his arm violently as he bellowed his pain and rage into the surrounding spaces. Phrygia was screaming and punching the male for all she was worth as he held her in his grip with his other arm.

  Murder and Gaston ran toward the three, sending their own battle cries into the air. “I got the Dark One, you grab Anton. Then when I make him release Phrygia, grab her, too!” Murder stopped his battle cry long enough to shout to the half-shifted gator shifter running beside him toward the horrifying scene playing out on the dock.

  Murder left the ground, his wings taking him up high enough to drop down onto the Dark One without him realizing it until Murder was already on him.

  The Dark One roared his anger and his surprise at the level of fight these two males had.

  Murder was fighting with all he was. Punching, breaking, and as soon as he got the chance, gouging with his horns. He wasn’t sure if Gaston had heard his plan or not, but when Gaston threw himself against the Dark One, snapping his jaws at the male’s chest and throat, he knew he’d heard.

  “Let go, Anton. Go hide!” Murder ordered, as he brought his forearm around to knock the Dark One off balance with a blow to the side of his head.

  Anton let go and dropped into the murky water of the swamp, doing exactly what Murder told him to do while his daddy and Murder fought to free Phrygia.

  The sounds of the battle spread far and wide, drawing the attention of all who lived in Whispers. Some inhabitants slunk back inside their homes, content to just keep their families and themselves safe and separate from whatever battle was taking place.

  Others ran toward the sound of the battle, some anxious to join in, still others just wanting to make sure that whatever it was, it didn’t sp
ill over into their lives.

  Enthrall and Destroy were suddenly there, ghosting into place and yelling for the others to stay back as they watched and tried to get a handle on the best way to help Murder and Gaston.

  Murder kept fighting the Dark One, and the Dark One let go of Phrygia for just one second to try to get a better grip. Instead of taking her chance and running, Phrygia stayed to fight, which enabled the Dark One to grab her by the throat.

  Gaston opened his massive jaws, since he was now fully shifted and clamped down on the Dark One’s thigh, forcing his body to yank back and forth with the sinewy muscles running the length of him and threatening to throw the Dark One off balance and into the water with both Murder and Gaston holding onto him, still.

  The Dark One roared again and Murder released his hold, grabbed from behind and used a choke hold to try to make him lose consciousness.

  Phrygia was losing consciousness herself as she clawed at the hand gripping her neck tightly. She knew she was dying. That was her last thought as she watched the pretty purple, silver, and green mists taking shape on the bank near the house.

  Chapter 21

  Lore had been calling for Murder all morning, but Murder hadn’t responded at all, and much to Lore’s irritation, continued to ignore him. It was as though he’d blocked his thoughts from Lore so that he couldn’t even get an idea of where Murder was. He’d been snarling mad, moving around Whispers all morning trying to find Murder, at the same time Murder, unbeknownst to Lore, was moving in opposite circles looking for Phrygia, and that kept them both from running into each other.

  He’d been with Terrus, having just given in and asked for help locating Murder when a roar just like the one he and Enthrall heard days earlier sounded throughout Whispers. “Where did that come from?” he asked Terrus.

  Terrus looked at him, dread in his eyes. “The gator shifter — near his home I think.”

  Together they misted from the deepest woods in Whispers to the bayou where the gator shifter - Gaston — made his home.

  Murder kept his hold on the Dark One until the male, finally beginning to need to breathe, let go of Phrygia shoving her off the pier, and clamped his hands around Murder’s horns, using them to throw Murder forward over his head. Instead of letting go of Murder, he slapped first one hand, then another around Murder’s throat and began to strangle him.

  Gaston partially shifted back and let go of the Dark One’s thigh long enough to put his hands around the Dark One’s throat, his claws digging in as he strangled the Dark One.

  Destroy, anxious for something to do, some way to help, plunged into the water after Phrygia.

  Lore and Terrus tried time and again to use their powers to attack the Dark One, but it was tricky going, because if either hit Murder or Gaston, they'd be just as dead as if the Dark One had done it.

  The snarls and growls were still just as frightening as they’d been when the battle had begun. None of the three males were weak. All were dangerous, and all were determined to win.

  Enthrall was fit to be tied, he needed to help his friends, and he needed to put the Dark One back where he belonged so that he couldn’t threaten Whispers or any of its inhabitants ever again.

  Lore was even more out of control. Lucitari was in danger of being lost forever. Murder was the key to finding her, and here he was battling with Gaston and the Dark One instead of answering his call earlier and helping find Lucitari.

  Finally, Enthrall gave up intelligent battle and ran toward Murder, Gaston, and the Dark One. He was intent that another male fighting against the Dark One would be enough to bring him under control — while a powerful male, he was not in his own domain so that power was limited.

  Lore realized that Enthrall was going to join the battle against the Dark One and shouted for Enthrall to stop. “No! Stay away! Do not give him access to you as well!”

  “We have to intervene,” Enthrall shouted. “We have to make this stop or we could lose Murder and Gaston!”

  “We don’t know what he’s capable of. Just stand back,” Lore pleaded.

  “We’ll pull them onto land. Maybe you and Destroy can move around behind them,” Lore said

  “Okay, do it!” Enthrall ordered.

  Lore looked over at Terrus. “Ready?”

  “Yes,” Terrus answered, his mists already swirling in his hands. Together Terrus and Lore used their mists to pull the three males from the pier and onto the shoreline. Murder had managed to turn and use his horns to gore the side of the Dark One’s head, leaving a gaping wound at the temple and down the side of the Dark One’s head. Streams of blood flowed down his face and neck making the three of them a bloody mess.

  The claws Gaston kept digging into the Dark One’s throat caused even more blood to course down his chest. Murder’s hands clawed at the Dark One’s hands which were still wrapped around his throat.

  Lore and Terrus kept the trio in their mists, trying to break them apart, but were not able to use their powers to the full extent of their abilities because they didn’t want to harm Murder or Gaston. They hoped to, at the very least, subdue the Dark One, but it was impossible. He was so bad, so evil, that he enjoyed the battle more than he’d enjoyed anything in centuries, laughing and grinning through his pain as he battled two able-bodied males.

  “I’m going in!” Enthrall announced.

  “No! We’ve got them in our grip. We are steadily increasing our magics. Do not move into the mists, Enthrall,” Lore shouted.

  What was actually seconds, felt like hours as a snarling Enthrall, anxious to break up the fight, tried the sound he emitted to control the inhabitants when all else failed. All that managed to do was to give the Dark One the upper hand when Murder and Gaston cringed and momentarily lost their grips.

  Enthrall immediately realized his mistake, shouting for the Dark One to stop the battle at once. “Amilanu! Enough!”

  The Dark One sneered at Enthrall attempting to gain his acquiescence by using his name and squeezed Murder’s throat even tighter.

  Enthrall snarled and stalked toward the three men, directly into the mists regardless of Lore’s warning. He pulled back his fist and punched the Dark One as hard as he possibly could.

  “Terrus, pull back!” Lore yelled. Both he and Terrus dropped the mists they’d surrounded the fighting males in.

  The Dark One stumbled back a step, but did not relax his hold on Murder, nor did Murder or Gaston relax their holds on the Dark One.

  Enthrall, already angry, pulled back preparing to hit him again, but then he heard a sound that caused him to smile. He looked over his shoulder to where Aubreigne stood, her siren’s song falling hypnotically from her lips.

  Murder was not affected because he’d been her lover long, long before either had ever known of Whispers. They’d amicably gone their separate ways and become better friends than they ever were lovers. He was for the most part immune to her song. Gaston was not affected because in the time that Phrygia had been at his home, they’d begun the bonding process, with her accepting his pledge and giving him her own. Mated males were not as affected by a siren’s song as those who’d not yet bonded.

  The Dark One’s eyes began to grow wide. He pressed his lips into a thin line before throwing both males far from himself, proving how strong he actually was, and that he was enjoying the fight more than he minded it because he could have stopped it at any time by throwing both Murder and Gaston away from him. He bellowed out louder than he had before. “Can you not control this bitch?” he screamed at Enthrall, demanding an answer as he glowered at Aubreigne.

  Enthrall smiled and encouraged her. “Louder, Aubreigne. Don’t stop.”

  Aubreigne moved closer to the water, leaving the others behind her, raised her voice louder and continued to sing her siren’s song.

  Unable to do anything when Aubreigne sang, other than bend to her will, the Dark One shrieked his frustration to the winds, but not before Lore threw his powers at him full force, as did Terrus when he rea
lized what Lore was doing, sending a screaming, agonized male into the mists as he disappeared before their eyes. And though he was gone, they could still hear his screams echoing in the far distance.

  Enthrall and Lore hurried to Murder and Gaston who both lay gasping on the ground.

  Destroy was with Phrygia who’d been terrified and had trouble breathing initially, which was the reason he didn’t leave her to assist Enthrall. He’d been making sure she was okay, and now helped her when she started to make her way toward Murder and Gaston, where they sat on the ground a few feet apart.

  “What the hell happened?” Enthrall demanded, his hands running over Murder’s wounds to ensure the gargoyle was not seriously hurt.

  “He came to my home and stole my female!” Murder snarled, shoving his finger at Gaston.

  “I did no such ‘ting! She came to me on her own!” Gaston yelled back.

  “I meant with the Dark One!” Enthrall shouted.

  “He followed me as I searched for Phrygia. I found her with this thief!” Murder growled. “And when Gaston came to meet me for battle, the Dark One grabbed Phrygia, so together we turned on him.”

  “I am not a ‘tief! I am a good male! I have integriteh!” Gaston shouted at Murder.

  “Yes, you are a thief! She couldn’t have even found you on her own. You forced her to come here! I found evidence in my home that she fought someone. Then I find her here!”